Since 2016, Crash & The Carpenters have become legends in the Sydney, Australia punk rock scene but it’s taken until now for me to discover them. That’s all thanks to the release of their third studio album. A mix of hard rock, punk, reggae and ska, it’s called Of A Love Renewed.
By Graeme Smith
Of A Love Renewed is social commentary for a world that’s come out of COVID lockdown with a new attitude. It opens with Runners High, a track about the importance of mental health. It’s suitably pacey, opening with a relentless riff before driving drums come in. We get the rawness of punk, but also something a little more unconventional about it that marks Crash & The Carpenters out from their peers. It’s a compelling start.
I Don’t Get Johnny Funk opens with a funky bass riff and some groovy wah-wah. Characterful vocals deliver quick fire verses before arriving at a frustrated sigh of a chorus. It’s an early highlight.
Go Get Gone is a lively and freeing number with an anthemic quality about it. It’s one to dance to. Somebody To Believe In takes things a classic rock direction with its punchy arrangement while not losing the biting punk lyrics. Chains slows things down with a sultry and fiery moment. It’s another highlight.
Fuck You And Your Phone sits at the heart of the album and rails against the danger of over-relying on technology. Those Who Matter Don’t Mind shows us a softer side of Crash & The Carpenters with an uplifting and uncompromising punk anthem about self-belief and finding your own path.
Guilty As Sin sizzles with a bluesy anger, calling out predators in the Catholic Church and those who covered up their crimes. Ride It Out introduces some ska to the mix and encourages us all to take a moment for ourselves. For Tilly’s Sake (Death By A Thousand Cuts) is a powerful highlight, telling the story of 15-year-old Matilda Roseware who was bullied into taking her own life via social media. It takes no prisoners in a hard-hitting four minutes.
The Grieving Song is the Crash & The Carpenters sound at its most emotional, and mixes together elements of psych with ska to great effect. The World Is Broken closes the album with a final call to action, whipping listeners to demand change from the various crises we are sleepwalking towards (or have already arrived).
You can check out Of A Love Renewed below.